


Hell's Kitchen

by CruelisnotMason



Series: Happy & humorous sheith fics [3]
Category: Voltron - Fandom, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°), Baking, Canon Compliant, Cooking, F/M, Fluff, Getting Together, Gordon Ramsay - Freeform, Hunk as, M/M, Mutual Pining, POV Outsider, Pining, Post-War, cook or die, hunks kitchen, oblivious Shiro, s8 doesn't exist, shiro learns how to cock
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-10-21 15:41:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17645633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CruelisnotMason/pseuds/CruelisnotMason
Summary: Hunk loves his friends unconditionally, therefore, if someone reaches out to him in need of help, he runs towards them, especially if it's a task as joyous as cooking. Normally, he has the patient heart of an angel, but when it comes to Shiro's disastrous cooking, he just can't help it.AKA Hunk secretly helps Shiro cooking so Shiro can cook a good meal for the love of his life





	Hell's Kitchen

**Author's Note:**

> I again ignored all my responsibilities to write this baby - if you like it, please leave a comment!

 

"Shiro. Ey, hey - Buddy, are you listening?”

 

Even though Hunk is using his softest voice, Shiro can tell he's lost his nerves right about now. They tried the easy stuff first, scrambled eggs and toast, and when even that went wrong, Hunk realized in what kind of situation he put himself into. 

 

"Sorry," Shiro says, face tinted with the smallest hint of red. His spatula is raised to the sky, and small pieces of scrambled eggs (including some egg shell) are dropping to the ground. "I think I know what to do next, though." He says it with enough confidence for Hunk to relax, so when the fire starts raging in Shiro's cooking pan a few ticks later, he didn’t expect it. 

 

When he taught his niece to cook a good paella, he might have had as much patience as he has with Shiro now. They are both beginners, not running a restaurant and basically intoxicating customers. That’s why Hunk won’t scream as quickly or lose his cool when around Shiro. If anything, Shiro has the same angelic smile that reminds him of his niece, which is astounding to Hunk. Additionally, Shiro might be a grown man, but he’s just as helpless.

 

"Okay, _cool_ ," Hunk says and eyes the fire warily. He takes a big lid, covers the pan and leaves it on until everything that's left of the fire is jet-black crumbs. In another reality, those maybe could have been eggs. He looks back to Shiro, who opens a window as to let the black clouds escape and fresh air in. He’s coughing like hell, self-inflicted. Right now, Shiro might get enough air, but Hunk just started coughing his soul out. He waves a hand in front of his mouth and takes two steps towards Shiro. The big former Black Paladin’s face looks sheepish, which is no wonder. He knows exactly what he did. 

 

But Hunk likes to stay positive in the eye of failure. "Good. Well done. We stopped the fire. So, let's not do that _ever_ again." He tells Shiro, making his voice as strict as it gets. He wants to emphasize the meaning of his words by looking his Paladin-buddy straight in the eye, but the puppy eyes and the corner of his mouth curved downwards are enough to let Hunk soften up again. He furrows his eyebrows and tries to hold his gaze - and fails. He never thought Shiro could be easily let down, but he figures as a prodigy there are things that he's instantly able to do – and then there is cooking; a skill that must be practiced and executed before you can succeed. There are no shortcuts to a delicious self-cooked meal.

 

"Alright,” Hunk claps in his hands, unwilling to give up yet. “Let's start with the basics again. How do you make scrambled eggs?" He asks the former Black Paladin, the captain of the Atlas, the Garrison's Golden Boy, that excels at everything, except cooking.

 

It's okay, Hunk muses, and decides to stay positive. Until now he was able to form the worst single dude into an average cook, so this will be a piece of cake. Even though he is shockingly easy to give up when it comes to cooking, Shiro is a good learner and often more ambitious than for his own good, he proved that again and again. He is a fighter and a genius, if it just takes a little patience, how hard could it be to teach him the basics of cooking?

 

 

Three weeks later, Hunk thinks shooting himself into space on a five-year mission alone, just to escape his duty to teach him seems like a more pliable option.

 

Turns out that teaching a certain white-haired guy to cook is verging on the edge of insanity, because no matter how careful, he's explaining step-to-step recipes, there have been twelve fires this week already, and most of them could have been easily preventable.

 

"No, no _NOO_!" Hunk shouts as Shiro uses sugar instead of salt on the noodles. It's officially over with nice, friendly and patient Hunk. Not if it is this, what he's facing.

 

"What??" Shiro shouts back and his prosthetic arm slams over a bottle of oil and a pepper caster in the process of reaching for the lid and the fire protection blanket.

"There's no fire _this_ time, Shiro. You put sugar in the noodle pot!"

Shiro looks at him, slowly dropping his arm and the blanket he's hugging tightly, Hunk can't believe him.

"You do know there needs to be salt in the noodle water. Not sugar," he asks calmly. Shiro nods tight-lipped. Hunk can't believe he's lying to his face, but he acts as if he's believing him to save them both the embarrassment. He’s folding his arms like the goddamn kitchen chef, he's supposed to be, but if he can't teach Shiro, he doesn't know if he actually earned that title.

He hears Shiro say something that he'd never expected him to say, ever, not in this reality.

 

"Maybe we should give up," the beefy guy tells him, eyes all droopy, lips curling into a bitter smile. Suddenly, he looks nothing like the fierce captain Hunk first met. Right now he's more like his disheartened niece Angela, who burned a toast and needs the reaffirmation that it’s not the end of the world.

Hunk unfolds his arms - he just can't stay mad at that - and pulls the surprised captain into a hug, pats his back like he would do if he's actually teaching a child. "There, there," he says. "Who would give up when their last omelet had almost zero eggshell in it?"

 

Shiro's hugs him back tentatively, but in the course of action pulls him so tight that Hunk has trouble breathing. Hunk briefly wonders how Keith is not crushed by those strong arms, then he remembers, it must be the Galra genes. When Shay hugs him, she’s usually careful and tells him afterwards that humans look like they’d break easily.

 

A small "didn't know you were such a hugger" escapes Hunk when they part and when they do, Takashi Shirogane, strict Captain of the Atlas looks like the softest puppy again. Hunk always loves hugs from his good friends, and he counts Shiro as one of them. And friends don’t let friends cook more of this biodegradable goo. He gives him another pat on his shoulder.

 

"So, I thought, if we make it until Friday without another fire, I'm going to treat you to something _really_ delicious. Alrighty?"

 

Shiro nods, because there’s nothing to lose. He's positive they will be fireless in Hunk's kitchen until Friday or so help him God. He just has to concentrate, listen to whatever Hunk says, maybe google ‘how to not start a fire in the kitchen’ and he’ll be just fine. He’s making progress, Hunk told him, so he will improve in that area, too.

 

Unsurprisingly, they don't make it without fire until Friday, but Hunk is a giver, so he makes food for them both anyways. Usually there's a lot of tension when he’s in the kitchen together with Shiro, but now it's just him cooking and his student carefully watching. He's making Lasagna, one of Pidge's and Lance's favorite dish. He's concentrating and Shiro doesn't talk too much either, so it's a relaxing evening anyway.

 

Shiro is beaming while he tastes Hunk's dish. Now, when he thinks about it, Shiro often looked happy eating Hunk's cooked food in the castle of lions. "So, it's been three weeks," Hunk starts and raises his glass of water to toast, "and we've not yet killed ourselves in a burning fire." Shiro's smile drops a little and he voices a small "Terrific".

"And I just want to celebrate," Hunk continues after shushing him, "that my good friend Shiro is working hard to gain a new wonderful skill."

 

"I drink to that," Shiro raises his glass to, a small grin on his lips.

 

"Well, well."

 

They eat in comfortable silence, but something nags at Hunk. Shiro, the big muscle guy, who men and women equally lure after, who was older than all four cadets when they first went to space, who had a long-time boyfriend already and probably lived with him… how was he able to go without cooking his whole life and why did he want to learn it now? Hunk holds privacy as a sacred thing, but he’s also a curious person.

 

"So, I've been thinking," he starts and Shiro looks up, which makes him decidedly more nervous. It's not that Shiro is a big, intimidating authority person (although he can be), but within those three or more years together in space with him, he hadn’t had the most contact with him. Almost none of the had, Pidge may, and Keith. "It’s surprising for you to learn cooking. Any particular reason, why that is...?"

 

Hunk loves friendship and loves gossip, too. So that's the perfect opportunity. He doesn't expect Shiro to be so uncomfortable with the question, though.

 

"Um, I.." he starts, "just think it's neat?"

 

That doesn't answer Hunk's question at all. But okay, one step at a time. If Shiro's not ready to open up, that's fine.

 

They stay until midnight and chat casually. Hunk likes this; to get to learn about Shiro's other sides, too.

 

 

 

 

It's a week later when the Paladins all sit in a meeting room, and although everyone was advised to come, it turns out to be a meeting solely about movie adaptations of their story and what everyone's comfortable with. There are some legal contracts that they sign, and although they all could care less about a movie about them, it furthers the Intergalactical Ties.

 

Keith and Allura do not bat an eye when asked if it's okay to portray a love story between the two of them, Shiro says nothing about getting his own spin-off, but Lance politely asks the representatives to transmit the message that in the case of another movie screening where he is portrayed as 'the dumb one' will have legal steps taken.

 

When the meetings over, everyone's outside the conference room within seconds - but Hunk's not that fast. He's packing his stuff, trying to remember his appointments for the next day and if or if not he and Shiro agreed-on meeting later for another cooking lesson.

 

He is still packing his stuff, when he overhears Keith say: "What have you been up to, lately? I barely saw you last week."

Hunk can’t put a finger on what makes him feel like he’s not in the right place at the right time. He suddenly hopes to have packed his stuff faster, like the others did and just run out of the room, but here he’s trapped. He doesn’t know where that feeling comes from – he likes Keith. He likes Shiro. He likes them both liking each other. It’s obvious, too.

 

Hunk looks up and sees Shiro fidget one or two seconds until he straightens his back and leans into Keith's space and says:" Why, did you miss me?"

 

Hunk can't believe what he's hearing with his own ears, and also can't believe that a conversation between two people who were fully clothed and not touching could sound like a conversation straight out of low budget soft porn that runs on TV at 4 in the morning.

 

Keith’s head looks like a tomato with Shiro so close, but he sniffs through the air and scrunches his face. "Shiro… you reek of smoke. Did you start smoking?" He fakes coughing and holds his nose. Shiro pushes his shoulder playfully in turn, but it looks more like he's gently stroking over it.

 

Hunk feels like he's invading a private scene that he's not supposed to see, and he's not sure if they even notice that he is still there, while they are captured in their own, small little world. Before he witnesses more of their awkward flirting, he needs to go. "Goodbye Guys!" he yells and basically runs out of the room. Outside he meets the other Paladins who notice his embarrassed face and nod in sympathy.

 

He realizes why after every meeting the Paladins walk out within seconds.

 

Hunk is happy for _them_ – and now that he realized, he keeps seeing Shiro and Keith, somewhere in a corner, apart from the other Paladins, talking and laughing. Somehow Hunk has been convinced that they dated since before they came back to Earth. He faintly remembers the way that Keith would always hold on to Shiro, especially after the soul transfer. Those hugs grew pretty bold over a short time. It wasn’t only Hunk who noticed Shiro crashing into doorframes and tumbling every time he spotted Keith in the tight Blades suit. The gazes they throw each other. And Keith really touches Shiro with every opportunity given, whereas Shiro does it less and less (probably out of wariness).

He doesn’t want to pry, but he’s sure they still haven’t talked it out, and Hunk just doesn’t understand why.

 

The next time they stand in the kitchen, Shiro is idly cooking a pot of noodles. Turns out, when Hunk writes the instructions down and simultaneously tells him in his scariest instructor's voice, Shiro is able to follow along and cook without burning something, or accidentally sweetening the noodles.

 

“I think there are some sweet noodle dishes in East-Asian countries,” Hunk murmurs. Shiro’s eyes are fixed on the pot and he continues stirring the noodles.

“Don’t overstir, Shiro,” Hunk tells him while sitting on the counter behind him, “Or otherwise you will create an inrecognizable clump.”

 

There are only a few things to do, when they only try easy recipes that don’t require many vegetables or other ingredients. Hunk turns on the kitchen radio and Shiro moves next to him to lean against the counter and watch the pot with sharp eyes from a distance.

 

“You’re doing good,” Hunk praises him. “Seems like we found your learning method with cooking.”

 

Shiro smiles at him, genuine, wonderful smile. No wonder Keith’s face gets a deep red, whenever Shiro’s nearby. Even Hunk doesn’t feel like he can resist that brawny, smiling package.

 

“Thanks, Hunk.” Shiro’s voice is firm – back is the leader with an unstoppable love for learning new things. “I was close to giving up, but I really wanted to do this.”

Hunk nods. “Believe me, buddy, cooking will never disappoint you.” Shiro furrows his brows. “It’s true, as soon as there are no fires, it’s a relaxing activity. If done together, it can be an incredible team-building measure. The teams have to be a well-working mechanism, as soon as they have to put out the fire.”

 

Hunk doesn’t remind him, that creating a fire isn’t usually a part of cooking, but has been a special component in his cooking.

 

“I guess… you could say it like that, my man.”

 

Hunk doesn’t remind him to take the noodles off the stove and drain them, Shiro does it all by himself. He feels like a proud father – he encourages Shiro to try a noodle, and his surprised and happy face is like a present on Christmas Eve.

 

“You’ve done it,” he congratulates him, “and next time we will learn how you cook the sauce, because, y’know, dry noodles aren’t completely fulfilling.

 

The next time he sees Shiro’s beaming at Keith, he thinks how he misses Shay a bit, who has been gone for a while to meet her family on their planet.

When Shiro leaves the room, Keith looks after him, face lovestruck and telling enough. Hunk wishes the best for his favorite half-Galra; he even considered sitting him down and telling him. But meddling with the love lives of his friends never turned out well, and on top of that, Hunk is too much of a hopeless romantic that he wants to ruin the suspense by telling one of them what the other feels.

He walks towards Keith and pushes him out of his reverie by patting his shoulder. “How ya doing, best bud. Are you all well?”

 

 

 

Shiro loves mac’n cheese, so that’s what they are cooking the following week. Hunk is happy that Shiro doesn’t seem to have high demands, because it’d make teaching him how to cook a great deal harder.

 

It’s almost the same as last week, this time, Shiro has to pay more attention to not burn the sauce, but Hunk is confident enough he will manage. He takes it a step further and talks to him. Shiro needs to get used to distraction during cooking, just like a good driver has to.

 

“Who cooked for you before?” Hunk asks him, because maybe there’s a special dish or anything particular that Shiro maybe likes to eat, which they could try. He thinks about Shiro ever mentioning his parents, but it checks out zero.

 

“Um,” Shiro says and stirs the pot, “I guess, Adam did.”

 

It’s not a good thing opening a conversation with his dead ex-fiancé, Hunk thinks. But it shouldn’t be off-limits. He just thinks maybe it’s too early.

 

“And before?”

 

Shiro frowns at the pot, pondering.

 

“The Garrison, I think? It’s the last I can remember.”

Hunk doesn't need two or more seconds to connect the dots, he doesn't mean to be invasive about it, just surprised.

 

“Were you an orphan?” he asks in an instant. He’s surprised by this new, steamy info about the former Black Paladin, his friend.

 

“Uh. Uhm," Shiro hesitates a few seconds, not out of shame but because it's a reminiscent of the past. 

"Yes.”

 

Hunk isn't surprised. He wonders how he did not know. Neither he, Pidge, Lance, not even Allura? _Keith_ probably knows.

 

“Alright.”

 

Shiro takes the pot off the stove by himself. “I think it’s done,” he smiles at Hunk. “It looks good.”

 

They eat together the mac’ n cheese – Hunk comments on the flavor and consistency and tells Shiro how he can improve. “Believe me, when we’re done, you’ll probably make the best mac’n cheese in the world.” If only it’s because they are not practicing anything else.

 

Shiro has his mouth full of noodles when he takes out his phone. “I searched on the internet. Do you think you’ll be able to teach me this?”

 

He hands Hunk the phone and continues eating. Hunk wonders if he wants to do something that doesn’t consist of only two ingredients and almost drops the phone when he sees the pictures Shiro downloaded. It’s a main dish and a desert; the main is a casserole and shaved noodles, the desert is a nut cake with vanilla ice cream.

“What?” He asks Shiro and zooms in and out on the pictures.

“Do you think we can do it?”, Shiro asks him with a spoon full of macaroni in his hand.

Hunk is not sure if Shiro is overly ambitious, thinking he could upgrade his cooking so easily, or just completely nuts.

 

“It looks like a romantic dinner for sure,” Hunk murmurs and doesn’t miss how Shiro’s face gets beet red. He doesn’t ask for him to clarify, but when Shiro does, he stutters away like a 15-year-old schoolboy in love.

 

“I-it’s just meant as a thanks,” he explains and drops all the macaroni from his spoon.

“Yeah,” Hunk chuckles and gives the phone back. “Right.” Hunk is a nice guy, so he ignores Shiro’s red face and his sudden inability to eat normally. When they part, Hunk tells him, that he won’t let him down.

 

“We can do it!” He tells him and watches Shiro walk away in high spirits.

 

He can’t see it coming when Shiro’s sits in the kitchen, two weeks later, crushed like a small wrinkly walnut. Apparently, he has been in the kitchen for longer, because he’s snacking on a bowl of mac’n cheese like it’s a bowl of chocolate ice-cream. If Hunk wasn’t worrying about what was wrong, he’d almost find it comical.

 

“Hey,” he calls out softly, pulls a chair to sit next to Shiro. “What’s wrong, beefcake?” He dares to use that new, weird nickname, knowingly that Shiro might be too distracted to notice.

Shiro doesn’t look like he wants to tell him – he exhales loudly and stuffs another spoon full of mac’n cheese in his mouth, chews and swallows.

 

“It’s nothing.” He tells Hunk.

Hunk watched too many romantic comedies in his life – it’s clear as day to him, what’s happening. But Shiro seldomly opens up, so he needs to move cautiously. It’s the first time he sees Shiro, visibly grumpy, too. That must mean he’s feeling comfortable enough with Hunk – he shouldn’t ruin that.

 

“Is this maybe…” he starts, cautiously, “… about the person you wanted to cook the fancy meal for?”

 

Shiro stares at him in horror, as if Hunk just found out his well-kept secret. It’s unbelievable that Shiro thinks nobody knows about this, but Hunk is not the person who will change that perception for him.

 

“Just a good guess,” he tells Shiro before he can question him.

 

Shiro swallows as he looks at him, then looks down at his bowl. Hunk believes, he’s going to let the topic slide, but against all odds, Shiro starts to talk.

 

“So, I planned cooking this meal. As a thank you,” he fiddles with his thumbs, “for everything.”

“Yeah, that much I got already.”

Shiro throws him a sour gaze – Hunk looks at him apologetically.

“Someone else asked him out. A Galra dude who’s stationed at the Garrison.”

 

“Oh.”

 

“I’m not jealous,” Shiro quickly says. “I just thought, if he’s dating someone, that someone might be not alright with me cooking a dinner for him. As a thank you, of course.”

 

Hunk wants to shake Shiro for being that delusional. Who does he think he’s deceiving with that weak excuse? Hunk has a faint suspicion that Shiro is lying to himself, too.

 

“Okay, buddy,” he relents after a few seconds. “It’s okay to say it’s Keith, right? Right.” Hunk ignores him flinching. “So, what did he exactly say.”

 

Shiro is thinking hard and stares into the air.

 

“I think the almost exact words on the question of what’s been up lately were ‘Yesterday someone asked me on a date. I might be going on that date… except something else is going to happen’. What does that even mean?” Shiro sighs and puts his face into his hands.

 

Hunk claps into his hands. “Alright, so if we learn how to do the stuff you wanted to do, we’ll be able to be that something else. _That's_ the meaning.”

 

Shiro slowly retrieves his face from his hands and looks up at Hunk. “Right," he slowly agrees, “that sounds logical.”

Hunk doesn’t think it does with the explanation that Shiro has been giving him. For him it sounded like Keith absolutely waited for him to say something so he won’t go on that date, because even Keith can be tired of waiting – even if it’s for Shiro. Personally, Hunk thinks there are many easier ways to stop him from going on the date, but it wouldn’t be as romantic as that planned ‘Thank you’-dinner out of nowhere, would it be?

 

“That means," he continues, “we just have to teach you how to cook the casserole and bake the cake within this week. _Coolcoolcoolcoolcool_. We can do it, I mean, I think.”

 

“Really?” Shiro perks up. Gone is every hint of the crushed man with a heartbreak from a few seconds ago.

 

“I promise! Oh, it’s gonna be so great. I’m sure we’re going to find a ton of cute decorations for the dinner.”

 

The week has been hell. Before, they were just easy going, making one dish at a time – but now they don’t have time and it’s back to Hell’s kitchen.

 

There have been three fires so far and Hunk isn’t proud that he has to admit that one was caused by him, for the sheer aggressive force that build up over teaching Shiro the casserole two days in a row.

There’s one time when Keith almost enters the kitchen and Hunk has to physically prevent him from doing so – Shiro hid inside, in a corner out of Keith’s sight – since there is no explanation why Hunk and Shiro both stripped down to their underwear. It was because first Shiro than Hunk caught fire in their clothes, but Keith doesn’t have to know that.

 

Hunk is standing outside the kitchen with him only with his shorts on, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “Hey, Keith, my friend," he starts, “What’s up? Uh, you can’t go into the kitchen.”

 

Keith furrows his eyebrows, looking at the door behind Hunk. “Is Shay back earlier than planned?”

 

“Nah, my friend. Just me and my kitchen stuff in there," he lies and ignores what Keith insinuated by that. “It’s just messy in there. I’m embarrassed for you to see.” His low voice purrs.

 

Keith frowns. “Why are you naked?”

 

“You know what? I think stove is telling me to get out the uhm…cookies. Gotta go back. We go talk later, yeah? Maybe next week. Bye, Keith.”

 

He leaves him standing there, goes back into the kitchen, slams and locks the door behind him.

“Don’t tell me there was another fire," he tells Shiro, but he shakes his hands, eyes wide and happy. “Look at that," he says excitedly.

 

In his hands he is holding a small casserole, perfectly cooked through. It looks edible, too. That’s a first, Hunk thinks.

 

“Rest of this week, we’re coming!” Hunk exclaims and Shiro burns his fingers through the potholders.

 

Baking a cake and casseroles is a lengthy process, so Hunk has a lot of time to spare. He usually sits at the kitchen island with his data pad, browsing for decoration.

 

“How about this?” he asks Shiro and shows him a two-pound bag of fake rose petals. Seeing how red Shiro goes, he thinks it counts as a reward for the 6 weeks and more of teaching him how to cook, that he gets to tease him.

 

“I think it's inappropriate," Shiro muses and goes back to his casserole form.

“Oh boy. I think it’s perfect," Hunk claims and puts it into the online shopping basket, “Should I order a wine, too?” he asks him.

 

“I-I," Shiro stutters, “It might be not-" he sighs and gives in. "Yeah, you should. Why not. He’s worth it," he says, voice small, while he stirs the gravy.

 

Hunk’s heart stutters and his cheeks go red – it’s just lovely, how much Shiro loves Keith.

 

“You are really good friends," he tells him to not start the usual fight or flight response in Shiro when he hints at the not so friendly but romantic relationship they have. “But why cooking? Why not just give him a bouquet of roses?”

 

Shiro doesn’t seem to think there’s something wrong with the idea of presenting a rose bouquet his absolute platonic friend, so he goes on to explaining why he wanted to cook for him so badly.

 

“He goes through a lot of trouble to help me," he replies. "It’s time I go through trouble to thank him for that.”

 

Hunk nods and puts some candles in the shopping cart on his web browser.

 

“Also, it’s… chivalrous. I’ve seen it in movies.”

 

For Shiro to admit that much, it’s a huge step. Hunk is seriously considering adding condoms to the shopping cart, just in case the ‘Thank you’-Dinner goes really well.

 

“I think we’re almost there," he tells him when he watches Shiro dump the gravy over the meat and how he carefully arranges the noodles on the plate.

“I think so, too," Shiro says and gives Hunk an honest smile. “Maybe I need to give you a ‘Thank you’-Dinner, too, afterwards," he grins.

 

It’s Hunk’s own fault that his mind goes _there_. He hopes that whatever Shiro thinks a ‘Thank you’-Dinner is, he’s got different ideas within different contexts, different friends, too.

 

“Uhhhhh, it’s alright, thanks," he tells him, “You thanked me enough already.”

 

 

It’s Sunday evening when they prepare the kitchen. The cake is in the oven and they clean everything up. Although Shiro told him it would be alright for him to do that by himself, Hunk is there to help, because he’s rooting for the guy. He’s rooting for Keith to find love, too. Their connection has his unconditional blessing.

 

Before Shiro can voice any protest, Hunk puts two candles on the table and electric tea lights everywhere in the room. He scatters the right amount of rose petals on the table and counter, but it was Shiro, who in fact brought a bouquet which he put in a vase on the table.

 

It’s maybe half an hour until Keith might arrive in front of the kitchen door, oblivious to what was planned. Shiro is fidgeting, walking up and down in his black suit and smoothed back hair. Hunk takes the nut cake out of the oven and serves it on a plate, because he worries that Shiro’s nervousness makes him drop the cake or plates – he helps him extra by taking a few minutes to decorate it.

 

It’s almost seven and Hunk hands him the cake on the plate. “Go nuts”, he throws a last bad pun to make Shiro lighten up – then he quickly withdraws from the kitchen.

 

In a few microseconds he spots Keith walking down the floor, so he hides in a corner. Keith doesn’t look nervous and is dressed casually in jeans and shirt. They way Shiro took care of his appearance today will slap him right across the face, probably.

 

He’s still staying to watch as Shiro opens the door and Keith’s eyes seem to fall out of their holes, Keith slowly enters, face in awe and Shiro guides him in. Hunk is taking his phone out and types in a quick message:

 

 **Hunk [7:01pm]:** _In case your da…I mean, thank you dinner, goes well, really well: ...second top drawer next to the stove_

 

Afterwards, Hunk leisurely walks back to his own room and decides to make a video call to Shay, which he hasn’t done in a while.

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm CruelisnotMason | Cruelisblue and I do fics and fanart. You can find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/CruelisB) & [tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/cruelisblue) and talk to me about Sheith or Shiro&Hunk friendship <3
> 
>  
> 
> _________________________
> 
> This story is part of the LLF Comment Project, which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including:
> 
> Feedback
> 
>   * Short comments
>   * Long comments
>   * Questions
>   * “<3” as extra kudos
>   * Reader-reader interaction
> 

> 
> This author replies to comments.  
> If you don’t want a reply, for any reason (sometimes I feel shy when I’m reading and not up to starting a conversation, for example), feel free to sign your comment with “whisper” and I will appreciate it but not respond!  
> \- long comments  
> \- "<3"  
> 


End file.
